The present invention relates to methods and devices for collecting body fluids such as blood so that the fluid can thereafter be subjected to two or more separate analyses.
It is well known that in order to test the condition of a living being such as a human being or other animal, some of the blood is removed from the living being and is analyzed in a number of different ways. In many currently used methods, this blood is removed from the living being by undesirable methods. For example, it is known to prick the tip of a finger, an earlobe, or the like, and in addition, it is known to extract blood from an artery with a suitable syringe. These known procedures are highly disadvantageous since an essential part thereof involves wounding the body, creating pain and a certain amount of trauma and requiring not only operations under conditions of high standards of hygiene and sterility to avoid infection but also unavoidable discomfort which follows during healing of the wound required for extraction of blood.
Significant improvement for collecting body fluids are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,232,673, 4,036,214, 4,317,454, 3,958,561 and 3,867,924 (Re. 29,061), all of which are hereby incorporated by reference. In these patents, a device which is capable of receiving and holding blood is introduced into the interior of a body cavity where blood is present, and after the device remains in the body cavity for a sufficient amount of time to receive a suitable amount of blood, the device is removed and the blood removed therewith is tested. Such devices may be incorporated into a tampon introduced into the vagina for collecting blood during the menstrual cycle.